“The Sunlight Foundation ran the numbers and found that after spending nearly $11 million in the general election, the National Rifle Association got a less than one percent return on its investment this cycle,” washingtonpost.com reports. “That is, less than one percent of the money went toward the desired result.” Wait. What? “The group supported 27 winning candidates, but most of its money was spent targeting winning Democrats (including over $7 million against President Obama) or bolstering losing Republicans (including $1.8 million supporting Mitt Romney and $500,000 backing Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock).” No matter how you look at it the NRA and the Republicans are facing the same bottom line: reach out to people of color or live life on the margins.

About Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the Publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

So what does reaching out and adapting mean exactly? Abandoning founding principals and core values? Race the left to see who can pander to more groups faster for votes? Out left the left but maybe put an asterisk on all our literature that says “…but WE like guns!”

@ hideya2a: you hit the bullseye! That’s exactly what these spineless chumps want us to do. Funny thing when the GOP wins an election cycle(2010) you don’t hear ppl like RF bitching about the old,white,racist GOP going extinct.

Sorry, the Republican Party, ala Akin, Murdock, Sanatorium, Koch Brothers, Rush Limbaugh is a dinosaur waiting to die (IMHO). I’ve voted for centrist republicans and democrats. Get used to it and move on. I’m a democrat, NRA member and am willing to work with the likes of Senator Jim Web and other centrists . Quit your illusions that some how only the Republican party will support Second Amendment rights. The Republicans need to turn back to the center – aka Dole, Bush 41 and Ronnie. Period. Adapt or go extinct.

I know the local tea party is basically the wet dream of the religious right; I don’t think that’s nationally the case but the local rank and file of the tea party favors things like teacher led prayers in school, blue laws, prohibitions on adult material, marijuana, homosexual activity, etc. It took what I thought was a movement I could be comfortable and totally trashed it. Small government means just that–not “well, keep it out of these areas of my life but intrude here here and here in other people’s lives.” The GOP has to realize that for people in my generation, that sort of social conservatism is just unwanted and isn’t going to win.

backwards. You just described the GOP. Tea party, anti-weed? Wow, what an out of touch assertion. Such an assertion can only be made by someone who lives under a rock, or watches tv news which is the same thing. GOP idiot elements co-opted the movement and now its just gibberish and no platform but the GOP.

My in-laws are members of the local tea party, as are several members of my church.

Like I said, i doubt it is the case nationally but locally? Yep that’s our local tea party. I don’t know how widespread it is of course (I don’t have a lot of friends far from where I live, and the ones I do have don’t align with the GOP or the tea party). But that is very much the flavor of the local group.

The Tea-Party started out as a Libertarian wing of the GOP but due to the political capital and influence it had, the core religious wackos of the GOP co-opted it and destroyed it. Now it’s just like the regular GOP but they pretend to care about cutting spending.

Which is why more and more 20-somethings are turning towards libertarianism. It has the lack of government control over your personal life but it also has the lack of government control over your finances as well.

Tea Party started out as a protest movement against taxes and was Co-Opted by the Koch Brother. They gave 1 or 2% of their wealth and fend off being taxed like the rest of us (as a high wage earner, I’ve already paid over 25% in just income tax deducted from my paycheck, compare to Mitt Romney’s 14% while getting 24 million return). Must be nice, never taxed over 15% (and no Social Security or Medicare taxes) while sending jobs overseas to China and Bangladesh. And didn’t even need to put up his own money. Mitt made money the old fashion way, like the Kennedy’s – Bilking investors ala Michael Milken. Over funded pension funds, business with assets worth more than book….

The NRA backing Romney was the biggest joke of all. They should have stayed out of the race rather than backing a candidate who was in favor of the AWB. It made them look like partisan hacks who were more concerned about which party won the election rather than an organization that supports our rights to keep and bear arms.

Oh yeah. I got frigging pissed of when they started to back Romney. The monthly mag I get from them basically slobbed his knob and I just kept wanting to shout “HE SUPPORTED THE AWB!”. Which is a bit of legisllation that royally pissed off the NRA a few years ago but I guess it’s 100% OK now. They even gave him an A rating, which is supposed to indicate a solid record on voting for gun rights…which, sorry, he does not have.

That’s not at all what my experiences have been with the tea party. Most in my group (including myself) just want the size of government shrunken, and the regulation of personal liberties removed. I think gay people should be able to do what they want, but, at least here in Washington state the laws legalizing gay marriage also allow for legal retaliation should someone speak out against it (hate crime). Government should get out of marriage completely and deregulate drugs, guns, alcohol, insurance, and probably a few more, and then everyone would be free to be unhappy or happy as they choose.

By the way, this was directed at Paul W above. Something happened while posting on my phone… I quote:

“I know the local tea party is basically the wet dream of the religious right; I don’t think that’s nationally the case but the local rank and file of the tea party favors things like teacher led prayers in school, blue laws, prohibitions on adult material, marijuana, homosexual activity, etc. It took what I thought was a movement I could be comfortable and totally trashed it. Small government means just that–not “well, keep it out of these areas of my life but intrude here here and here in other people’s lives.” The GOP has to realize that for people in my generation, that sort of social conservatism is just unwanted and isn’t going to win.”

The NRA wasn’t the problem. People of color aren’t the problem. Racism isn’t the problem, and Romney for all his faults isn’t the problem.

The problem is that us Constitution loving gun owners have just become a national minority. Im a biracial guy from Chicago, and I voted Republican. Most of the people in my state voted Republican. It didn’t matter in the end, because the Blue States have more people. To make things worse, the Blue States are out-breeding us. In 4 years its going to get worse. In 8 the only way anyone is going to be able to seek political office is if they pander to the Progressive agenda of social welfare, higher taxes, and GLBT & womens rights. It won’t matter what letter is before your name-if you get in front of a podium talking about a balanced budget and Constitutional rights you’ll be pilloried as some Taliban Neanderthal trying to turn America back into the Jim Crow days.

Its a VERY bitter pill to swallow, but us guys and gals who are carrying and shooting and reading our Constitutions have just become obsolete. The majority voter is no longer the hardworking Farmer with a shotgun over the fireplace with his wife and two kids . The majority voter of the elections to come is a latino family in West Chicago with 5 kids who thinks higher taxes and gun control is a civilized way to run a country.

Although I agree with some of your comments, you are way off on gun rights.

Your statement: “The problem is that us Constitution loving gun owners have just become a national minority”

Those for stricter gun control, in 1990, 78%.
In 2010, 44%.

20 years, with a 34% swing for gun rights. Keep in mind, significant portion of that from people who do not own guns.

As gun owners, we are doing something right. Personally, just an opinion, but when people hear of responsible gun owners defending themselves or others. When they hear of Kim Rhode winning medals in 5 Olympics with her trusty shotgun. When a child ,with little of no training protects his mother with a .22 cal.

These things help take away the “evil gun” message anti gunners scream so loudly.

The problem isn’t support for gun control, but an understanding of its meaning with regard to the Constitution. Most people can’t even spell that word nowadays, much less have actually read the thing. As such what “gun control” means is a variable term.

Some folks consider “gun control” to be an outright ban. Others think gun rights are OK as long as full auto and scary looking assault weapons are banned. Others think a nationwide carry permit is OK, as long as a background check and mandatory 1000 Round training is required.

Very few people who voted for Obama would take the 2nd Amendment at its proper face value. As such, restrictions and regulations on our civil rights are part of the deal when electing Democrats-and as long as their marketing department and speechwriters know what they’re doing, its going to be a part of our Brave New America whether we like it or not.

The moronic Republican party has been coopted by folks who have NO ideology. They only care about the power and spoils. Period. So anything which interferes with that goal is dismissed. Hence the Kay Bailey comments and crap from Sean Vanity etc. The tea party was the only flicker of light from folks who had a moral and political framework.

The NRA once again has lost their way. I am finding it really difficult to remain loyal to an organization which is bloated and has lost it influence with the populace. Time for another house cleaning.

So, are you saying you agree with the moronic statements of Akin and Murdock?

Because if you are, I would be interested in knowing if you would deny your mother, sister, wife, or daughter a morning after pill when they just suffered through a “legitimate rape”.

Then, when the above family member, delivers the bi-racial baby, possibly with some birth defects due to STD’s of drug use by the rapist, how you and the mother would welcome this child into your family with love and affection.

“The problem is that the Republican politicians and power brokers that *do* seem to have an ideology seem to have based it on ignorance and unwarranted control — I think that’s what JPD got hung up on.”
And Democrats don’t have ideologies based on control as well?

Koch Brother’s contributions to change the conversation from paying your fair share to solve the budget crisis. Koch brothers can care less of where Michelle Bachman stands on most issues, especially social, as long as she won’t raise taxes on them. Same for Rush. Hitch your horse to the wrong wagon and you ain’t making it home tonight.

They have a better return on their investment than the President did with his green energy policies. This is an all or nothing game with the big one being the presidential election. If Romney had won, then it would have been success. It is better to remain principled and lose than lose your principles.

OK, what does green energy mean? I’d say I am all for it, dump the supporters of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The sooner we quit importing oil from the Middle East, the sooner they have no funds and shrivel up and die. Missed that one of the Emirates giving $400 million to Gaza?

Green energy works, with moderation and reasonable costs. Romney never invested in green energy (except his new home in La Jolla in San Diego where I live).

Who has to lose principles against terrorist? I want them to go away, shrivel up and die. That will only happen when we no longer need Middle East oil.

I read an article that suggested one reason that the Romney camp thought it was going to win was the large number of independents who said they would vote for him. They assumed these independents were always unattached voters who were new to the fold or swing voters. What they failed to understand was that these independents are mostly former republicans fed up with the Republican Party. The second mistake was to underestimate the size and strength of the Latino vote. Latinos are the largest minority in the US, they are mostly democrats, and they vote. The Republican Party threw them to the curb with their policies on immigration, policies that were threatening not only to illegal aliens but to legal aliens and citizens alike. Republicans became during this election cycle the party of exclusion–no latinos, few blacks, no gays, no women’s rights. These are the policies of the hyperconservative evangelicals formerly known as the Moral Majority in Gingrich’s heyday. They were a minority then, and they remain so to this day. When more than half of all voters have been excluded from the group at the start, how did they plan to win? The power structure dominated by white protestand males is no more, and the Republicans had better figure out a way to deal with that fact or they will become irrelevant, just as they have become largely irrelevant in California, where less than 30% of registered voters are Republicans.

An example: I live in Texas. My neighbor across the street is hispanic. His family is from San Antonio. They trace their heritage back to the late 1700’s. His ancestors fought in the Alamo against the Mexicans. Pete, and his wife Barbara do not speak spanish, The last spanish speaking family member was his great grandmother.

Every day, he is treated by whites like he is an illegal alien. When he has been pulled over in a traffic stop, officers question his legal status.

Pete graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Business Administration. Currently he is the manager of a building supplies location.

Not to say that everyone he encounters is Republican, but Tarrant County white males voted 78% for Romney.

I’m glad the NRA lost. I am a gun owner, proud of it, a proud liberal, and the NRA is a joke. I joined about 20 years ago, every day there was a new envelope in the mail from them that they needed money to save my guns. Really?? 20 years later, my rights are better now than then. As long as the are right-wing freaks, they will continue to be losing steam.

I have to agree with you, Al. The NRA has either lost their influence and/or their relevance in helping to shape America’s views on firearms and the 2nd amendment and I no longer believe a few dollars more in their pocket will help them help us.

@ Al: Lucky that right-wing freak Bush beat Al Gore or the SCOTUS would’ve been stacked in favor of the democrats. And anyone with an ounce of common sense knows all the dems ruled against our 2A rights in Heller & Mcdonald. Thank God the right-wing freaks have the majority in the SCOTUS or we wouldn’t have a 2A anymore thanks to the demoRATS.